This course looks at major trends in 19th century European and American philosophy, a century that created the basic texts and traditions for movements such as Positivism, Pragmatism, Existentialism, Transcendentalism and Marxism, as well as carrying through on the 18th century currents of Idealism. Historical texts may include the writings of Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Comte, Frege, Peirce, Bentham, Mill, Emerson and Thoreau. The course will look at the texts in their own right, as well as seeing how they came out of the philosophical thought of the previous century, and, most importantly, how they informed the political, social and ethical positions of the current age.